Chemical Engineering

Chemical Engineering Department Mission

The mission of the Chemical Engineering Department is to provide a comprehensive and competitive chemical engineering education following the guidelines provided by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The department is committed to serving as a conduit to a profession that has traditionally not been highly accessible to minorities.

The Department of Chemical Engineering is formally structured into a four-year curriculum leading to the Bachelor of Science degree. The first two years are spent in a common core program required of all engineering majors. Upon admission to the upper program the final two years are spent fulfilling accreditation requirements outlined by ABET. This program serves students interested in developing the technical skill sets needed to conceptualize and design chemical based processes and in applying these skills to a broad range of areas, such as the environment and manufacturing, and to emerging topics at the intersection of engineering, chemistry, biology, and physics.

The Chemical Engineering Department offers courses that may be taken as electives by other engineering students, and its faculty members teach courses in the general engineering and architecture (structures) areas. The student club of the American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE) is open to students in other areas, such as the other engineering programs, physics, and chemistry, and the department’s faculty members are active members of area and national professional societies.

Program Objectives and Outcomes

The following definitions will be used for program educational outcomes and objectives. The definitions are from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET, see www.abet.com).

Program Educational Objectives – Program educational objectives are broad statements that describe the career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparing graduates to achieve.

Program Outcomes – Program outcomes are narrower statements that describe what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. These relate to the skills, knowledge, and behaviors that students acquire in their matriculation through the program.

Educational Objectives

The program develops graduates who are effective problem solvers and:

Demonstrate competencies basic to success in graduate study or function as a professional chemical engineer;

Demonstrate effective teamwork, leadership, and communication skills;
Demonstrate the ability to maintain professional competency through life-long learning;
Demonstrate knowledge of basic research methodology; and
Develop a responsibility towards his or her community and to demonstrate this responsibility through service to the department, the profession, and the public.

Educational Outcomes

During the course of their time in the Chemical Engineering Program, all students must:

Demonstrate the skills and knowledge to design, control, and operate basic physical, chemical, and biochemical processes for the creation of new material wealth or for the solution of problems, in an economical, efficient, safe, and environmentally and socially acceptable manner;
Analyze the operation of basic physical and chemical processes;
Solve problems related to the operation of basic chemical and physical processes, including the interpretation of results;
Use basic concepts related to process control of simple chemical and physical processes in designing and operating them;
Demonstrate competencies related to the design of simple chemical and biochemical processes, development of process alternatives, and selection of the best alternative which is economical, efficient, safe, and environmentally and socially acceptable;
Demonstrate comprehension of the importance of professional ethics, social consciousness, environmental preservation, product quality, and safety;
Demonstrate a level of oral communication skills required for technical presentations;
Demonstrate a level of written communication skills required in writing technical reports and articles;
Demonstrate skills in finding appropriate information and data to solve problems;
Work effectively in groups to accomplish assigned tasks and objectives.